So It Has Been a Couple of Weeks......

Greetings and fall is finally settling in. Life has been a bit odd but good and keeping me away from this blog. Getting used to a bit more downtime then I have been used to over the past five years has taken a bit more time then I accounted for. Trying to figure this out has consumed a couple of weeks. Being a "mid" career artist and restarting is very exciting and sort of like floating at the same time, None the less I am getting the lay of the land.  I will be shipping out a good chunk of flags this week; finally. It will be late this week so have a bit more patience please.

I have also been considering what project to run alongside the flag project. As winter and the cold months are upon us and I won't be able to work in my beloved rock gardens I came up with the above picture. I have decided to produce a large scale printed rock garden that is modular. The pic above is 60" x 80". Each piece is moveable. I have test drove a few models on the computer and will probably have to increase the size in the actual world. The projected finish date is mid November. In the mean time I will be looking for various indoor locations to temporarily install it.

I want to let people come into the space it is installed and allow them to compose with the printed rocks and make their own garden. At first I thought this was a bit cheesey. Then I wrapped my head around it and decided that it was a decent idea. I really don't want to wait until I'm 50 to decide the idea is good enough. I will post some actual prints of the piece as it goes. If you have a suggestion as to a where please drop me a line.

The plan for identifying a printmakiing studio space is getting closer. I hope that we are able to get situated within the next month. That is all for now.

Giant White Flags and new distribution.....

Distribution.... sounds so cold. Maybe, perhaps, let's just look at this as a new way of letting the general folks in the public have a few of these. I have some remnants and would like to start reaching to point further away then just the general vicinity I dwell in. This does not preclude it though. I'll dive into this idea a bit more later.

So the new flag set is done. I am not even going to bother trying to number them anymore. This set is simply called Giant White Flag Set 0911. I decided to return to the landscape format and raise the scale of the pieces.

As you can see from the above pic they are substantially larger. This set is made form two simple stencils on the screen. If you look very closely at the bottom center of the pic you can see the back of my Buddha guarding my household. Anyhow, I am very excited by how this set came out. Using the very minimum of stencils to create a large scale landscape was the primary mission. I was aiming to also create the view of the passing landscape in rural Japan that I saw while passing by on train. It is quite the impressive experience. The trees in the forest often look as thought they are the same size. I believe this might be due to how they grow into the hills and mountain side. As I am not the tree scientist type of guy I can only speculate.

This is a good look at the new set in mid production. Please pardon my use of the camera. I am not too photo smart and trying to learn how this new camera works. None the less, I believe I have the scale of the window down from the train in relation to the distance of the landscape. I am also trying to play more with the format of Japanese banners called nobori. They are often used in festivals and temples there. For as much patterning that happens here the semi-ordered layering brings the image to a place of stillness. I think I'll head down this road a bit more over the next few months.

So anyhow I would like to start getting these past the general Beverly MA. neighborhood. As I do not have the time or fiscal means to travel and install them around the country or the world I have an idea I'd like to try to explore. I have some pieces left from over the past summer, including this new set. I would love to see them get homes away and will ship them to you. A nice forested home is preferred but not necessary. Heck, I'll ship them to you. All I ask in return is that a good jpeg of their home is sent to me at velvetpelican@gmail.com so that I can post them here. My goal is not selfless promotion. It is to keep the the Velvet Pelican mission to help people remember a few moments of solitude for themselves or others. Heck if you want to go and hang them out in the public for the taking do it. Be sure to keep one for yourself. Be a part of the art practice yourself; even if you are not particularly artistic.

Don't be shy....

Coming up soon.... I/we are hunting down a locale to open a new printshop!!!!! Details to happen soon!